Govt. to revive diesel power plants

The government is planning to revive diesel power plants which were shut down last year after the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant started generating power to the national grid.

According to the Power and Renewable Energy Ministry sources, around 300 diesel power plants in several areas, including Embilipitiya, Puttalam, Matara and Horana were shut down last year.

The ministry Secretary Suren Batagoda said the decision was taken following the lack of hydro power generation due to continuous dry weather.

“We shut down all the expensive diesel power plants after the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant started adding 900 MW to the national power grid. We were contemplating on what we could do in case of a lack of power production. The private companies-owned diesel power plants are the solution we chose,” he said.

The Ministry had informed the private companies to gear up diesel power generating capacity. (Piyumi Fonseka)